A DAMNING report has revealed European Union officials are wasting hundreds of millions of euros in taxpayers’ money on environmental projects which are too expensive and fail to protect the landscape.

Official auditors have found that the costs of three quarters of the farm projects to protect the landscape and protect biodiversity are “either unreasonably high or insufficiently justified.”

The EU spent around £860million of public money on the schemes between 2007-13 from its multi-billion pound budget, to which the UK is the second biggest contributor after Germany.

The findings fuels claims by campaigners for voters to back a Brexit in the forthcoming in/out referendum that Britain’s £8.5billion net contribution to the EU is being wasted on vanity projects and incompetent bureaucracy.

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Wetlands are an important source of biodiversity

After visiting 80 per cent of the projects in four different EU states, auditors found only five of the 28 schemes they saw were cost effective.

It was found that schemes funded in Portugal, Denmark, Italy and the UK did not check whether costs were reasonable or they even accepted the most expensive offer for carrying out work.

Projects ineligible for funding were also given cash because officials didn’t properly vet proposals.

This included work on hedging or the restoration of wetlands, while other projects given cash through the scheme included the restoration of dry-stone walls.

But Brussels funding for the EU scheme is continuing until 2020 despite the likelihood of more waste because the European Commission and member states are yet to take action to tackle misspending.

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Funds were given to projects that repaired dry stone walls

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The EU had allowed funding to go to ineligible projects

The sustainable management of our farmed environment is clearly important but EU support has to make financial sense as well

Mr Jan Kinšt

Mr Jan Kinšt, the Member of the European Court of Auditors (ECA) responsible for the report, said: “The sustainable management of our farmed environment is clearly important but EU support has to make financial sense as well.”

The ECA has urged those in charge of spending EU cash to make check they are not being over-charged for work, to ask for ‘supporting documentation’ for cost claims and to pre-determine what they hope to achieve before spending money.

Commenting on the scathing ECA report, Jonathan Arnott, UKIP MEP and member of the European Parliament's Budget Control Committee, said: "The British public would be disgusted to hear 860 million euros have been effectively wasted. 'Not cost effective' is EU jargon for essentially throwing money down the toilet.

"When even the EU is admitting it's wasting millions of pounds I think it's fair to say let's get out and not look back."